Sunday, August 10, 2008

The Dark Knight

Sometimes the movie lives up to the hype, and in my view The Dark Knight is one of those. I find Batman's voice a bit unreal, and the two-face dude (DA Harvey Dent) is totally over the top, but that, I suppose, is understandable since it is, after all, based on a comic. What I did find believable was the dual nature of shadow and light found even in our heroes--a conundrum well expressed in the movie's title. Harvey particularly shows how a "good guy" can go over to "the dark side." This seemed completely believable. Actually Batman himself seems so principled that at times I had a hard time relating to him. In the scene where Batman has a clear opportunity to run down The Joker with his Batmobile but instead swerves and wrecks the vehicle...well, as much as I consider myself nonviolent I think in a case of "him or me" I would have chosen him, the maestro of chaos. Wouldn't you owe it to the public, really? But on the other hand, I sure wouldn't want to return to the days of the vigilante and every man wearing the law on his hip. Ah, yes: paradox again.

1 comment:

Jay said...

Nation of laws: good. Division of powers: good. Morale authority: good.

It saddens me America's leadership has lost it's grip on these things.

Nationalism feels destructive, ugly, and evil to me now. Citizens are being hijacked and bullied by their governments. American and Chinese alike.